Mesa Verde

After a few days at home, it was time to hop in the car and head out again, this time with Linda and Joan.  We spent the first night in Monroe and took Linda for her first geocaching trip.  We broke her in right away as we made an unexpected water crossing.  I think she's a fan, even after that.

 She found this one all by herself!

 Yesterday morning we headed off to Mesa Verde where we took a Twilight Tour of Cliff Palace led by "Lucy Peabody."  She was called the mother of Mesa Verde for her work in the early 1900's to preserve the park.  She had a big part in getting it to be a national park. 

Today, we headed back to the park for a tour of Balcony House.  From the trailhead, you couldn't see it at all.  It was underneath.  We had to climb a big ladder to get to it.

We made it!

Once inside, we saw some kivas and other rooms and learned about what they know about the Ancestral Puebloans (formerly known as the Anasazi).  One of the guides says that about every five years there is a major theory change so don't get too attached to anything you think you know now.

 These were used for grinding corn, which, along with squash, beans, animals, and seeds, was what they ate.

We had to climb through a tunnel and back up another ladder to get out.

There was a great view from the top!

More Florida: Key Largo, the Everglades and Beyond . . .

Next stop on the grand Florida adventure was Key Largo. {cue the Beach Boys}  They are said to have some of the best diving out there.  You could see forever in the blue blue water.  We saw tons of coral and a bunch of fish with names I can't remember.   The big blue angelfish were my favorites.   Later while I was snorkeling near the boat, a huge fish that the boat captain said was a Bahama chub (I can't find that name anywhere so I suspect it has another identity too) came up and swam alongside me for a while on its way to some nearby seeweed.  Here we are on the boat.  Look how blue that water is!

In our trip planning, we noticed there were some caches in the area that you had to get via kayak.  That sounded interesting so we put it on the agenda.  Figuring out where to get a kayak and how to get from there to where we were going was a little tricky, but with the help of a kayak rental guy who happened to live near the caches, we figured it out.  We diligently packed a GPS, extra batteries, a well-charged cell phone, and some extra food and water in case things didn't go well.  It turned out to be a lovely paddle through the mangroves, with the tide helping us along in both directions.  We found 2 caches in just over 2 hours without getting lost or stranded.  (I can't lie. . . I was a little . . . OK, a lot, surprised by how smoothly it went.)  Here I am grabbing one of the caches.  Chris took a bunch of pictures of my back, but this one has half of my face so you can tell I was really there. 

We had such a good time, we decided to do it again in Miami at Oleta State Park.  That one was much less complicated.  While we were paddling, I kept an eye out for a Burn Notice character to jump out of a helicopter or something to explode, but I only saw the local party boats.   Bummer.  The scenery was fabulous though and almost made up for the lack of a Burn Notice sighting.

Since Florida is famous for its alligators, seeing them was high on my to-do list.  In preparation for seeing them, we had some for lunch.  They weren't bad.

Seeing the gators deep-fried wasn't good enough for checking off the list so we headed to the Everglades in search of a live one.  Apparently, they don't like the heat any more than I do, so they tend to hang out under the water when it's hot.  We looked and looked (and looked) for a long time with no luck.  We did see lots of other wildlife.  This bird had just stolen someone's egg.  He sat at the top of the tree like this for a long time.  I think he was showing off a little bit.

We saw some turtles too.

Finally, I had given up on alligators but Chris suggested checking one more spot.  We found this guy lounging in the shade near the path.  (Good thing he wasn't hungry and he didn't know we had eaten his cousin for lunch the day before or we would have been his next meal-- Rumor has it they can run 30 miles an hour and we were only about 2 feet away.)

We tried for a few more sightings on an airboat tour, but they were hiding there too.  Oh well, at least I can say I've ridden in an airboat.

Florida is also known for golf so we played a few holes.  Turns out Chris and I both stink at mini-golf.  Unfortunately, she's just  little better than I am.  I won the last game though, and I got two holes in one.  I think that counts for something.  It's a good game if you can lose and still have fun, right?

A golf ball in the water won't stop our game.  Not even the third time. . .

The last space shuttle trip was the big news while we were there.  Our timing was off for shuttle sightings but we spent a day at Kennedy Space Center getting the scoop.  This is the launch pad.

  

The shuttle on display was HUGE!  They look much smaller on TV.

Our final excursion was to Crystal River to swim with the manatees.  That was just too cool.  We were right there with them in the water as they swam around.  The babies were especially friendly.  They seemed to think Chris (dressed in her gray dive skin) was their mother. 

Key West

We left the happiest place on earth and headed south toward Key West, picking up Danielle along the way for a long overdue visit.  This is at the beginning of the Seven Mile Bridge (where the Amazing Race Finale was).

Immediately upon rolling into town, we took a historic tour of the town with an emphasis on Jimmy Buffett history.  This may or may not have been his first apartment here.  Several places claim that fame, as it turns out. 

There are lots of historic houses here too, most of them neatly tucked behind palm trees.  This one is on Caroline Street.  The crazy lady from the song lived about a block away.  (Don't know the song?  Danielle and I didn't either.  Chris will be happy to play it for you.)

We started the next day with a kayaking/ snorkeling trip through the mangroves.   The tour company's slogan is "We do in a week what other people accomplish in a day."  I like it!

 Getting ready to launch . . .

I think this is where I got stuck.  Backing up led to getting caught in the current and thrown out of the channel.  Paddling really fast to stay in the channel led to running into the mangrove.  Repeating this cycle over and over led to much frustration and eventually requesting rescue.  Turned out I could have just gotten out and walked as the water was only three feet deep.  It seems logic goes out the window in a crisis.  Sigh . . .

 These are called Mermaid's wine glasses. 

 We saw lots of snappers and stuff.

 After kayaking, we spent the rest of the day exploring the tourist spots of Key West.  Danielle brought her trusty umbrella to keep the sun off her fair princess skin.  Smart girl . . . she didn't end up with a sunburn. Wish I could say that.

It's not an outing with Danielle without a foot picture.  This one is at the African Cemetery which was probably really cool but it was closed so we could only look through the gate and wander around the courtyard area.

It's not an outing with Chris without a getting a geocache picture.  We had to sneak into the Waldorf and look like we belonged to get this one.

When on the coast, it is of great importance to eat good seafood often.  I had conch salad and a hogfish sandwich for lunch.  Yummy!!! (Funny quote from the diving guide at Key Largo . . . "Hogfish.  Nothing should taste that good and be that stupid.)

Key West is known for its six-toed cats.  We were hoping this one that wandered over as we were eating was one of them.  It wasn't, but it provided lots of entertainment for us anyway.

 We finally found this one at Ernest Hemingway's house.

 Key West is also known for its roosters that roam the streets.  There are chickens too but nobody talks about them. . . maybe because they're not noisy.

This is the southernmost point in the U.S.  It's down the street from the southernmost hotel, which is north of the southernmost guest house, which is north of the southernmost southernmost house.

Next stop was Mallory Square where everyone gathers just before sunset for a party and photos.  It's almost completely deserted during the day but at night it's a great people-watching spot.  There was a fire juggler and a dog wearing surfer shorts that picked up dollars from spectators and put them in buckets.

I had to steal this from Danielle's album because it's so artistic.  Good eye!

Look who we ran into on the way back to the car!  This trip rocks!  I got to see Darth Vader and Spiderman!  Darth Vader was a little better behaved than Spidey.

Our last day's adventure was parasailing.  The view was amazing and it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.  I let go with one hand for at least 3 seconds!

We saved the most touristy of the Key West tourist stops, Margaritaville, for last. . .We had Cheeseburgers in Paradise (and fries with fry sauce as a nod to my hometown) for lunch.  And look, I found the lost shaker of salt!

On the way out of town, we noticed a cache near the Mile Marker 0 sign.  We had been discussing earlier whether it really existed and were excited to find that, not only was it real, but it has a "Southernmost Parrot-Head Club" sign behind it.

Only one way to go from here. . . And we're off to Key Largo . . .